Nick Saban isn’t a coach. He’s a player. His coaches are the panel of ESPN College GameDay. That’s what he said, anyway, when asked on Saturday in Salt Lake City to address the rumors of his potential roaching return.
Saban has heard the most noise on a return to the LSU Tigers. Still, the Virginia Tech Hokies plan on injecting $229 million into athletics, and could be preparing a borderline unreasonable offer to someone on the market. The Penn State Nittany Lions and Florida Gators figure to be aggressive this offseason as well.
Saban sounded committed to the College GameDay crew when asked by Kirk Herbstreit about coaching rumors.
“Before we wrap this up, do you want to make an announcement since you are involved with all the jobs out there?” Herbstreit asked Saban. “Do you want to make an announcement?”
“Where you going? How much they paying you?” Asked Pat McAfee.
“These guys are all coaching me,” Saban said of the GameDay panel. “I’m a player now. I’m not a coach.”
Of course, Saban carved an out by saying he’s a player and not a coach. He can always return to wanting to be a coach at some point. The current hiring cycle might not be appealing, though.
The likeliest path to a return is taking a massive check from the Alabama Crimson Tide to return after a hypothetical Kalen DeBoer crashout. The 2025 season looked like it was heading that way after Alabama lost 31-17 to the Florida State Seminoles in Week 1, but the Tide has rallied and handled one of the country’s toughest schedules.
Saban was never going to return anywhere else, even if LSU looked interesting for a few days before Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry indirectly ripped Saban’s agent, Jimmy Sexton, for Brian Kelly’s $54 million buyout that the state’s taxpayers are paying for.